The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, or the Oldest Church Manual, the Didache and Kindred Documents
Overview
Since its rediscovery in 1873, the Didache has secured its place among the history of the Church Fathers, and in the history of the New Testament canon. It is one of the oldest and most detailed records of the worship and discipline of the Early Church, and it fills the gap between the Apostolic age and the Church of the second century, and sheds light upon questions of doctrine, worship, and discipline.
Shortly after Schaff’s volume on Apostolic Christianity in his multi-volume History of the Christian Church was published, he acquired the newly published Didache. Originally intended to supplement Volume 1 of his History with notes on the Didache, he decided instead to expand his study on the work into a stand-alone book.
This volume on the Didache includes the full text, with translation, notes, and exposition, amounting to a detailed history of the period between A. D. 70 and A. D. 150.
With Logos, this important work by Philip Schaff is easier to read than ever before! The Scripture texts link to your Greek and Hebrew texts and English translations. And your digital library gives you the ease and flexibility to read Schaff alongside the primary texts of the key figures in church history, such as Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and the Church Fathers.
Key Features
- Full text of the Didache
- Detailed history of the period between A. D. 70 and A. D. 150
- Extensive bibliography of all literature to date
Praise for the Print Edition
In the development of the discipline of church history in the United States, few scholars played a more important role than the Swiss-born, German-educated immigrant Philip Schaff. His model of careful, accurate, comprehensive, and irenic scholarship . . . remains worthy of admiration and emulation.
—R. Graham, professor of American church history, North Park Theological Seminary
No scholar of his generation has interested me so much. He was broad, powerful, a man of great genius.
Philip Schaff wanted to be remembered as a Christian scholar, and he pursued this scholarship in the context of his grand and optimistic ecumenical vision . . . Schaff was, in his own words, an inveterate hoper.
—George Shriver
Product Details
- Title: The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, or the Oldest Church Manual, the Didache and Kindred Documents
- Author: Philip Schaff
- Publisher: Funk & Wagnalls
- Publication Date: 1890
- Pages: 325
About Philip Schaff
Philip Schaff (1819–1893) was born in Chur, Switzerland. He was educated in Germany at Tübingen, Halle, and Berlin, where he studied under August Neander. In 1843, he moved to America and became a professor of church history and biblical literature at the German Reformed Theological Seminary in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.
During that time, he edited a hymnal, worked on the liturgy in the German Reformed Church, and edited a translation of the Heidelberg Catechism. The English translation of his History of the Apostolic Church appeared in 1853. Schaff remained at Mercersburg until 1863, when the Civil War forced the seminary to close.
In 1870, Schaff became a professor at Union Theological Seminary. During his tenure there, he held the chair of theological encyclopedia and Christian symbolism, the chair of Hebrew and cognate languages, the chair of sacred literature, and the chair of church history. He also served on the committee that translated the American Standard Version.
Schaff also authored or edited the History of the Christian Church, Early Church Fathers, and the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. He is remembered as one of America’s foremost church historians of the nineteenth century.
Top Highlights
“They all bear witness to trine immersion as the rule, and affusion or pouring as the exception.” (Page 42)
“Infant Baptism was practised in Christian families as early as the second century is evident from Tertullian, who opposed it as imprudent and dangerous, and from Origen, who approved it and speaks of it as an apostolic tradition.” (Page 31)
“Infant Baptism has no sense and would be worse than useless where there is no Christian family or Christian congregation to fulfil the conditions of Baptism and to guarantee a Christian nurture.” (Page 31)
“Baptism is not represented as a clerical function,” (Page 35)
“In this case they are to receive a regular maintenance, namely, all first fruits of the products of the wine-press and threshing-floor, of oxen and sheep, and of every possession.” (Page 70)
- Title: The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles
- Author: Philip Schaff
- Edition: 2
- Publisher: Funk & Wagnalls
- Print Publication Date: 1886
- Logos Release Date: 2011
- Era: era:modern
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Christian ethics › History--Early church, ca. 30-600; Church polity › History--Early church, ca. 30-600
- Resource ID: LLS:TCH12APOSTLES
- Resource Type: Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:59:48Z
Philip Schaff (1819–1893) was one of the most distinguished church historians who ever lived. He was educated at Tübingen, Halle, and Berlin, and was professor of church history and biblical literature at German Reformed Theological Seminary. When the Civil War forced the seminary to close, Schaff moved to Union Theological Seminary. Schaff had an enormous influence on German Reformed churches in America, and he wrote History of the Christian Church, Creeds of Christendom, and The Principle of Protestantism.